Modal dialog links links work in Jira Server top navigation, but not in project navigation

Jira Development Jira Server
,
1

I’m trying to add a link in the project navigation for Jira Server that triggers a modal dialog (popup) when clicked.

I can successfully get a modal dialog working for links in the top navigation bar, by using the same pattern that I see Jira use for its dialogs there. However if I use the same technique on project navigation bar then it doesn’t work — when I click the link, I see the popup appear very briefly but the page then navigates away to a new page.

Here is how the links are defined in atlassian-plugin.xml:

  <web-item key="example-top" name="Top navigation link" section="system.top.navigation.bar">
    <styleClass>example-top-link</styleClass>
    <label>Example Top</label>
    <link linkId="global-if-link">/secure/AboutPage.jspa</link>
  </web-item>

  <web-item key="example-project" name="Project navigation link" section="jira.project.sidebar.navigation">
    <styleClass>example-project-link</styleClass>
    <label>Example Project</label>
    <icon height="24" width="24">
      <link>$baseurl/secure/viewavatar?size=medium&amp;avatarId=10301&amp;avatarType=issuetype</link>
    </icon>
    <link linkId="example-project-link">/secure/AboutPage.jspa</link>
  </web-item>

…and here is javascript used to set up the dialogs:

AJS.toInit(function () {
  
  if (!JIRA.Dialogs.exampleTopDialog) {
    JIRA.Dialogs.exampleTopDialog = new JIRA.Dialog({
      id: "example-top-dialog",
      trigger: "a.example-top-link",
      widthClass: "medium",
      ajaxOptions: {
        url: this.href,
        data: {
          inline: true,
          decorator: "dialog"
        }
      }
    });
  }

  if (!JIRA.Dialogs.exampleProjectDialog) {
    JIRA.Dialogs.exampleProjectDialog = new JIRA.Dialog({
      id: "example-project-dialog",
      trigger: "a.example-project-link",
      widthClass: "medium",
      ajaxOptions: {
        url: this.href,
        data: {
          inline: true,
          decorator: "dialog"
        }
      }
    });
  }

});

When viewing a page in the project context (for example, any issue page) there is an ‘Example Top’ and ‘Example Project’ link visible. As I stated above only the Example Top link shows the dialog correctly, click the Example Project link navigates away from the page.

Can anyone suggest how to make the dialog work correctly on the project navigation link? Is there a way to suppress whatever click handler is presumably attached to the project navigation link?